How CTE is Impacting Sports

CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a disease caused by repetitive concussions or head injuries and is quickly becoming a popular topic in relation to sports. Recent studies have brought to light the reality and relevance of this disease in sports due to the increasing frequency of diagnoses in athletes.

Cases of CTE have been confirmed in all major sports including but not limited to:

Football

Boxing

Hockey

Wrestling

Baseball

Rugby

Soccer

CTE has also been confirmed in individuals who have not participated in contact sports, but had suffered other head injuries.
While CTE can only be confirmed by studying the brain post-mortem, some of the reported symptoms include:

Confusion

Depression

Impaired judgment

Suicide

Dementia

Due to the difficulty of diagnosing CTE, the most effective tools to combat this disease are awareness and prevention through making sports safer. Many sports leagues have amended the rules of their sports in a specific attempt to minimize the frequency of CTE-inducing injuries.

Furthermore, a law passed in Washington State in 2009 stated that youth football players could not return to gameplay after sustaining a concussion until a release was obtained by a physician. By 2014 all fifty states have passed similar laws.